Vintage Zoo Pamphlets Feature Odd Exhibits & Extinct Animals

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Multi-person elephant rides, orangutans eating from fine china,
and carnivores on display before becoming extinct are just some
of the scenes from an online exhibit of vintage zoo pamphlets
being featured by the Smithsonian Institution.

The pamphlets, photos and zoo maps, available from the Smithsonian
Institution Libraries, come from zoos in more than 30 U.S.
states and 40 countries. They show elephants in Australia
ferrying schoolchildren on their backs, close-up looks at tigers
in Prague, and illustrations from 1891 of a thylacine,
or Tasmanian tiger, a carnivorous marsupial on display at the
Gardens of the Zoological Society of London. The last known
thylacine died in captivity in 1936.

The vintage materials reveal how much zoos have changed from
amusement-park-like attractions to more educational,
conservation-minded institutions. A guide to Great Britain's
Clifton Zoological Gardens from 1912, for example, shows
prison-like animal enclosures encased in heavy bars. Primates
were often posed doing human-like activities. One Minnesota zoo
guide from 1928 shows a chimpanzee in a stroller. The New York
Zoological Park guide, published in 1905, has photographs of
orangutans sitting around a table draped with a white tablecloth,
mimicking a family dinner.

"Some of the photographs of animal enclosures, restraint devices
and mock theatrics, while unsettling to some, are an important
part of the history of human-animal relations," wrote Alvin
Hutchinson, the head of information services at Smithsonian
Libraries, in an introduction to the collection.

These days zoos are focused increasingly on conservation and
research rather than on anthropomorphized chimps. Smithsonian's
National Zoo, for example, recently live-tweeted an
attempt to artificially inseminate its giant panda Mei Xiang.
There are only about 1,600 pandas left in the wild, and
captive-breeding programs are part of an effort to save the
species.

In turn, zoo residents give researchers a glimpse at the
cognitive capabilities of wild animals. Recently, for example,
Santino, a chimpanzee at Furuvik Zoo in Sweden, showed
evidence of a sneaky streak. The territorial chimp was
already known to throw rocks at zoo visitors as part of his
dominance displays. (He always missed.) Now scientists have
observed Santino hiding his weapons behind logs and boulders in
his enclosure, even maintaining an innocent, nonchalant air in
order to get closer to visitors before launching his attack. The
chimp's behavior shows a capacity to make complex plans,
researchers told LiveScience.